In Part I, I discussed how we wound up visiting Dorel’s Technical Center for Child Safety in Columbus, Indiana and what they accomplish there. It’s quite the impressive place and after thoroughly enjoying the little trip down carseat memory lane they have on display, it was time to move on to the next stop on the tour.

Next, the Model Shop where products and components are pulled and swung and twisted and hammered. And tested for Lead (using proper industry standard procedures). That blue machine is pounding the chest clip… 15,857 times (and counting)!

Moving along to the lab…

For the record, I was a crash test virgin that day.

The photos of the sled and dummy below were post-crash, that’s why the chest clip is low. Check out the cheat sheet with all the acronyms! Test analysis was impressive.

Meeting the kids…

ATD calibration and maintenance. Fascinating, in a slightly disturbing way.

The IIHS Booster Fit Evaluation Fixture

OMG – the warehouse was humongous! It was probably the equivalent of several city blocks. They gave us headsets so we could hear our tour guide as they drove us around. I was absolutely floored by the amount of inventory – and we were told that was only about 2 weeks worth!

Again, I want to thank the generous folks at Dorel for taking the time to show us around, running sled tests for us, and giving us a better perspective of what it’s like on their end. I truly enjoyed our time spent there and learned a lot!

Yes, they own a replica of what the IIHS uses to rate booster belt fit. I imagine the other large CR manufacturers do too. Unfortunately, I don’t think there is much that can be done to “fix” poor belt fit on the AOE and Dorel 3-in-1 seats when used in booster mode. However, I’m sure all new and future booster designs are engineered with this new test protocol in mind. I’m not sure if you’re aware of this but the AOE/3-in-1 is actually the only Dorel seat(s) on the IIHS “Not Recommended” list at the moment. The Summit, Highback Booster with harness and Vantage are all currently listed in the “check fit” category along with a bunch of other boosters that are generally better regarded. It really does boil down to checking fit and assessing on a case-by-case basis. On the positive side, Dorel gets credit for having 5 boosters in the “Best Bet” category so clearly they’re moving in the right direction!

I am very happy Dorel (and other manufacturers) are paying more attention to fit. The 3 in 1 is what I was thinking of… Although some of the “Check Fit” ones usually end up pretty bad, too, some of them work for some vehicles/kids. I wish they would just take the 3-in-1’s belt guides off. And reinforce top slot for harness use on the models where it’s not.

@Heather – the newborn dummy (which I believe is Hybrid II) just felt like a sack of flour and the Hybrid III felt… well, exactly how I expected him to feel. Stiff isn’t really the right word but it’s hard to explain.

@CarseatPoncho – yes, we saw the slow motion video of the sled tests. They looked as good as you can hope for considering the forces involved. Tethering makes such a big difference!

@ Christineka & KQ – Honestly, I have no idea since I’m not familiar with that CR at all. For all I know they just threw a CR and dummy in that fixture because they knew we were coming. We just casually passed it on our way to the next area of the tour and I snapped a picture because it was interesting to me. I expect that it would be positioned properly according to the manual when actual fit testing is being conducted.